Crisis Communication - Responding to and Managing a Tragedy

Douglas County Lead Public Information Officer and Social Media Coordinator, Lauren LeKander, discusses Copper Canyon Apartments Shooting that killed a deputy and wounded four law enforcement officers.

We all watched in horror as the news unfolded in the tragic officer shooting in Douglas County—what Sheriff Tony Spurlock called “an ambush-type of attack”—that killed a deputy and wounded four law enforcement officers on December 31 of last year. Local and national news scrambled to cover the scenes and first responders sprang into action. Also springing into action was Douglas County Lead Public Information Officer and Social Media Coordinator, Lauren LeKander, who had to activate the communications crisis incident plan to make sure accurate and timely information was being shared with the public during this tragedy, while managing an active crime scene. Please join us March 7th, 2018, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the PPA Event Center, to hear Douglas County Sheriff’s Lauren LeKander go over a play-by-play of when the incident started unfolding and the strategies they employed to manage the communications.